Most
people, interested in history, will be aware that there is much
debate among archaeologists as to the value of metal detecting;
with some taking the viewpoint that detectorists are making a valuable
contribution - bringing sites into notice that would otherwise have
remained unknown and making finds that they would normally miss -
others that they are destructive, disturb the archaeology, fail to report
finds and trespass on listed sites stealing anything metal as they
go. Well you could probably write what I know about archaeology,
on the
back of a postcard, (in spite of my being an avid Time Team viewer ), so I won't dwell on that debate apart from to say
don't confuse the legitimate detectorist with the nighthawks; but
what I will add, from the viewpoint of an interested observer and
long time button collector, is that there is a clear role to be
played by the detectorist within our hobby.It will not have escaped the notice of even the
newest beginner that if you want to collect buttons dating before
about 1750, with the exception of particularly beautiful examples which
have been retained specifically for that beauty, you will be
collecting detector finds because there is no other source of supply.
Since the seventies there has been a marked increase in availability of
earlier buttons thanks to the efforts of detecting enthusiasts and
they now turn up on a regular basis at antique fairs and car boots all
over the country. I well remember being amazed at what the early diggers
had found along the Embankment displayed on stalls at Charring Cross
Arches before that excellent venue ceased to operate.
The buttons themselves have much to tell us in
terms of the history of their manufacture. Dug uniform relics of the late
18th & early 19th centuries are frequently marked with the manufacturers name and
therefore can provide a dateline by which we can ascertain the legitimacy
of the, perhaps, better condition buttons in our collections.
Restrikes for `museum collections' , `displays' and films are not
exactly unheard of and now too we are seeing much more sophisticated
reproductions for re-enactment organizations. It is by the
study of relics that we can determine, with some certainty, the
differences between legitimate examples and the fakes in addition to
which we have a source to create an accurate record of the historical development of the button
in terms of manufacturing techniques. In America where the organized
hobby is older than here, and the competition greater, the problem
of fakes is, I'm told, even more apparent; particularly in relation to
civil war artifacts.
I am often asked, by detecting
enthusiasts, what is collectable condition for a button collector?
It is a very difficult query to answer; tempting as it is to respond that
there are as many criteria for collectability as there are collectors with
everyone having their own definition, that is a less than helpful
response so I have come up with a short list of what I look for.
1. Age and rarity obviously play their part the
older or rarer the button the less I expect it to be perfect.
2.) All parts of the button should be present and
in reasonable condition including the shank.
3) How useful is it ie. is it
backmarked? ( makers mark or name on the back) is it a previously
unknown variant etc..
4.) The button should retain that ephemeral
and subjective quality beauty.
The second most common question usually follows
swiftly on the first: what is its value in monetary terms? The
most obvious answer is that the more of the criteria it meets
in the list above the more it is worth..
Exceptionally rare pieces will command exceptional prices and the common
less so. The examples on the left of this page are of interest and some
monetary value, , however small, those to the right are not, even though
the RN. Engineers button to the right would in even half decent
condition make in the region of £60 this flattened and corroded example
might net you a £1 in curiosity value. It is not
uncommon to find French buttons in fields all over the south of England
fallen from the uniforms of prisoners during the Napoleonic wars the 26th
button is an example. How then did this US state seal button arrive
at a field in Kent? Long out of date by either WWI or WWII -carried for
luck by some GI on his way to Europe? I hope he fared better than the
flattened button did.
It is worth
bearing in mind, for those of you excavating
battlefields, that there is an inherent contextual value for
buttons suitably provenanced; thus a button to the Rifle Brigade
found by a digger at Hythe or some other Napoleonic barrack town would be worth far less than one
from say Waterloo if you can prove where it came from and therein lies the
rub. Another one to look out
for is wreck buttons; there is an interesting and human story behind every
shipwreck and If the wreck can be identified or at least dated recovered
examples provide a snapshot on what was being, imported, exported or
transported at any given moment. Click here for examples from the NY
Historical Divers Society from a ship believed to have gone down in the
first quarter of the 19th C. Less well documented is this 21st Foot button
said to have come from the wreck of the Czar a transport ship that went
down in a storm off the Lizard in 185.Three things recommend the
story a) the seller made no selling point & bundled it with a
job lot mentioning the wreck only in passsing because she found it in a
ring box labelled as such b)It cost me less than a fiver which
considering the condition and relative rarity of the maker c. reeves is a
very keen price. c) It does have the look and feel,( soft and velvety), of
a brass button that's spent a long time in water about it so maybe...
One last plea for the benefit of the archaeologists - please stop ripping up the layers of relics with
those great big mechanical diggers, which must be destroying what the plow has missed,
or at least allow a detectorist or two to check for any
buttons first, thank you.
